Mistletone

Meg Baird photo by Amy Harrity

MEG BAIRD plays MELBOURNE: Friday January 22 Northcote Social Club with special guests Lower Plenty. Tickets on sale now from the venue.

Mistletone is proud to present the first Australian tour by Meg Baird; an artist we’ve admired from afar for more than a decade. Meg Baird brings her deep psych-folk vibrations to Australia for a Melbourne headline show at Northcote Social Club (tickets on sale now) with very special guests Lower Plenty.

• “As well as forming and being a mainstay in Espers, Meg Baird is a member of the decidedly freakier Heron Oblivion, who recently had their first show opening for The War on Drugs. As well as this, she has collaborated with Will Oldham, Kurt Vile, Sharon Van Etten, and toured with Bert Jansch. You get the picture. She’s well connected, and on the strength of this album she certainly has the chops to join such illustrious names on the upper echelons of her genre. It’s hard to properly describe an album which needs to be experienced from start to finish rather than intimately analysed. Give yourself the opportunity to become part of Meg Baird’s brave new world. You won’t be disappointed” – DROWNED IN SOUND

Artwork by Aaron Billings

RYLEY WALKER TOUR DATES:

• SYDNEY FESTIVAL: Friday January 22 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 8pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.
• SYDNEY FESTIVAL: Saturday January 23 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 5:45pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.
• BRISBANE: Sunday January 24 @ The Junk Bar. Tickets on sale now from Oztix.
• MELBOURNE: Monday January 25 @ The Toff with special guest. Presented by Triple R. Tickets on sale now from Moshtix.

Mistletone is proud as punch to present the first Australian tour by rising Chicago guitar virtuoso and neo-psychedelic singer-songwriter par excellence, Ryley Walker. Making the journey to Australia by invitation of Sydney Festival and riding the velvet coat-tails of his brilliant and hugely acclaimed album Primrose Green (released earlier this year on Dead Oceans via Inertia), Ryley Walker plays flawless, crisp jazz-folk songs in the vein of the end-of-the 1960s zeitgeist — but imbued with a fire, spirit and youth that transforms his every show into a mesmeric, jaw-dropping wig-out.

• “Ryley Walker’s Primrose Green may take notes from shaggy-haired ’70s dudes — hell, just look at the cover art — and root itself firmly in Walker’s dexterous acoustic guitar skills. But its spirit is beyond and is unruly. This is rock ‘n’ roll” – NPR
• “Crests warm currents of jazz, folk and rock as, say, Van Morrison and Tim Buckley did… (but) while Walker has absorbed these admirably free-roaming influences, this is clearly someone reaching for their essence” – UNCUT (9 out of 10)
• “Stoned, summery 70s-style jazz-folk” – The Guardian (4 stars)

Artwork by Michael Hurley, layout by Terry Burdak

MICHAEL HURLEY TOUR DATES:

• BRISBANE: THU JAN 21 – Junk Bar. Tickets on sale now from Oztix.
• MELBOURNE: SAT JAN 23 – Northcote Social Club with special guest Joel Silbersher plus DJ Downpat (A G Picks, O’Tomorrow). Presented by Triple R. Tickets on sale now from the venue. * SELLING FAST!
• SYDNEY FESTIVAL: SUN JAN 24 – St Stephen’s Church with Meg Baird, doors open 6pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.

Mistletone could not be more overjoyed to present the first ever Australian tour by one of the last of America’s true outsider folk troubadours, Michael Hurley. We at Mistletone (Ash & Sophie) have been long-time loving fans of Michael Hurley; he is an artist whose music means a great deal to us, and our hearts are overflowing with gratitude that he is finally coming to our shores!

Michael Hurley’s music sounds old, like it has always existed, and simultaneously singular, like something you’ve never heard anyone else play quite like that before. This timeless quality ensures that Hurley’s audience constantly renews itself. From the the beatniks in the NYC Village where he started in the early 60s, to the hippies in Vermont, to the Americana fans, indie rockers and freak folkers from the last two decades, and those who have covered and championed his songs — from Cat Power to Calexico — Michael’s music never fails to find fresh new ears. Pressed for a description, Hurley has called it “jazz-hyped blues and country and western music”.

Michael Hurley grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As a teenager in the 1950s he fell in love hearing the music of Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley blast from the radio, and was enthralled by the records of Blind Willie McTell, Hank Williams and Uncle Dave Macon that he sought for his own. This love for music, true and unvarnished, supplied him with a finely tuned musical compass he has not wavered from for 50 years and counting.

Hurley’s early records were released on Folkways, Warner Brothers/Raccoon and Rounder, while in recent years stalwart independent labels like Gnomonsong, Mississippi and Tompkins Square have been carrying the torch. A new album on the Mississippi label is due this spring. Besides being a truly unique musician, Hurley is also a cartoonist and watercolor artist of note — the instantly recognizable results of which grace his album covers.

Hurley now resides on the northwest coast of the USA, so appearances outside that region have been scarce the last decade; so we are doubly grateful that he is making the long and we hope, fruitful journey to Australia’s shores at long last.

photo by Jenny Berger Myhre

Mistletone is beyond delighted to present the incomparable Jenny Hval, bringing her hypnotising performance to Sydney Festival and MONA FOMA 2016 and throwing into question everything we know about gender and sexuality, health and capitalism, physicality, the body and the soul.

JENNY HVAL TOUR DATES:

• HOBART: Friday January 15 @ MONA: main stage, 3pm. MOFO three-day passes on sale now, tickets & more info here.
• SYDNEY FESTIVAL: Tuesday January 19 + Wednesday January 20 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 8pm; tickets on sale now here.

photo by Jenny Berger Myhre

Mistletone is beyond delighted to present the incomparable Jenny Hval, bringing her hypnotising performance to Sydney Festival and MONA FOMA 2016 and throwing into question everything we know about gender and sexuality, health and capitalism, physicality, the body and the soul.

JENNY HVAL TOUR DATES:

• HOBART: Friday January 15 @ MONA: main stage, 3pm. MOFO three-day passes on sale now, tickets & more info here.
• SYDNEY FESTIVAL: Tuesday January 19 + Wednesday January 20 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 8pm; tickets on sale now here.

Poster artwork by Bruce Mahalski

• THE CHILLS MELBOURNE SHOW: Friday January 15 at Max Watt’s with special guests Totally Mild + The Stevens. Tickets on sale now from Ticketscout.

Mistletone is very pleased to present Kurt Vile & the Violators and Toro y Moi‘s return to Australia in December/January as part of the Falls + Southbound Festival lineups. Ballots open now.

SOUTHBOUND FESTIVAL, Busselton WA: Jan 8-10, 2016. More info + tickets here.

Sydney Opera House Presents the return of the mighty Kurt Vile & the Violators, hot on the heels of Kurt Vile’s glorious new album b’lieve i’m goin down… , out now on Matador via Remote Control.

Last time Kurt Vile came around these parts, he was the hottest ticket in town — so fans would be well advised to book tickets without delay!

KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS: Thursday, January 7 @ Concert Hall, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE on . Presales for Sydney Opera House Insiders on sale Tuesday, October 6. Presales for Sydney Opera House Inhouse e-news Wednesday, October 7. General public tickets on sale Thursday, October 8 from 9am. Tickets & more info from Sydney Opera House Presents.

THE WEATHER STATION TOUR DATES:

WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL, QLD: December 29 – January 1. Tickets and more information here.
BRISBANE: Saturday January 2 @ The Junk Bar. Tickets on sale now from Oztix.
MELBOURNE: Monday January 4 @ Northcote Social Club. Tickets on sale now from the venue. Presented by Triple R.
SYDNEY: Wednesday January 6 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 5.45pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.
SYDNEY: Thursday January 7 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 8pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.

Mistletone proudly presents the first Australian tour by The Weather Station, performing as a trio at Woodford Folk Festival and Sydney Festival plus headline shows in Brisbane and Melbourne.

• “Plain but elegant, simple but intricate… Her songs feel very much like attempts to understand and appreciate the world in spite of its bitter ills; like the most basic forms of folk music, a term Lindeman readily embraces, they come with intent and aim.” – PITCHFORK

The Weather Station is the project of Canadian songwriter Tamara Lindeman; folk music based in classic elements of songcraft – melody, tension, meaning. The Weather Station’s third and finest album yet, Loyalty (released locally via Spunk Records) was recorded at La Frette Studios in France in the winter of 2014 with Afie Jurvanen (Bahamas) and Robbie Lackritz (Feist).

Loyalty retains the humble immediacy of Tamara Lindeman’s previous records while adding a high fidelity sheen, a clarity, a new confidence. The record crystallises Tamara’s lapidary songcraft into eleven emotionally charged vignettes and intimate portraits, redolent of fellow Canadians Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and David Wiffen, but utterly her own.

On her previous acclaimed albums All Of It Was Mine, and follow-up What Am I Going To Do With Everything I Know, (both for You’ve Changed Records) Tamara Lindeman established herself as a songwriter’s songwriter, earning accolades for her delicate, carefully worded verse, filled with double meanings, complex metaphors, and rich details of the everyday.

Praise for Loyalty in Australia includes Double J Best New Music (“Really intriguing folk music”), 4ZZZ (“Drifting and beautiful folk-rock”), Radio National’s The Inside Sleeve’s Best of 2015 So Far, 2SER Album of the Week, and 4 star reviews in Rolling Stone and The Music: “One of those old-fashioned, pure-at-heart folk records… Loyalty will be one of 2015’s well-loved releases”.

International praise has been just as lavish, with 4 star reviews in MOJO and Uncut: “There are many wise, deceptively simple insights on this wonderful album”; Popmatters 90 out of 100: “(Like) fellow Canadians Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, the fragility of tragic folk heroine Judee Sill, and even Bob Dylan, Loyalty offers a lived-in warmth of intimacy that refuses to be date stamped and exists outside the standard release cycle, claiming no specific year or period of origin”; and the Boston Globe: “The Weather Station compels the listener to lean in. That’s the only way to fully savor her intimate, acoustic tales that recall fellow Canadian artist Joni Mitchell, circa the late ’60s”.